dreamed about? Was our time together just a bad dream he finally woke from?
Cass tossed pieces of French bread to a building group of seagulls. She laughed as they caught the bread in midair. For a brief moment, the scars that made her seem so old were erased and I could see the girl she would have been if the world were fair. I was filled with the desire to make her world safe and just, a world where men didn’t fuck little girls and make them old before their time. A world I knew didn’t exist for people like us. Ok, that was only half of what I was thinking, deeper down in my shadow self I wished I was one of the men who got to fuck her. The sun fire in her hair, the way her firm body showed through the demure dress. She’s Kelly’s sister, how fucked am I.
“You’re doing it again,” she said.
“Doing what?”
“Staring at me.”
“What, I’m not supposed to look at you now?” I said looking back out at the water.
Tossing the crab shells into a trash can we headed back to the Barbary Coast. Strip clubs were an addiction for most men. If Kelly had met Gino there odds were he’d come back. The Coast was quiet, a few early birds sat at the bar and chatted up the day girls. I ordered a Gimlet, a gin and Rose’s lime juice and promised to pace my drinking. Cass had a diet coke and a bowl of pretzels. Jane the bartender was a stout girl, she had on low-rise jeans and a short shirt, showing off her sweet fuzz dusted round belly. She reminded me of a juicy peach, inviting you to take a thirst-quenching bite. When I asked her about Gino, she put a finger to her temple, pretending to think. “Your friend Benjamin Franklin might know a Gino,” she said with a cute smile. I dropped a hundred on the bar. She lifted it to her ear. “Oh really, no…” she said talking to the bill, then looked over to me. “He told me, Gino used to come in here, but he hasn’t been around for a while.”
“Does our friend know what he looked like?” I asked.
“Um,” she said listening to the bill again, “He said Gino was pushing sixty hard, with a bad dye job. Always wore nice suits, and tipped well.” With that she dropped the bill into her tip jar.
“Do you think your friend Grant might know anything else?” I said dropping a fifty on the bar.
“You don’t look like a fed, and you sure don’t tip like a fed.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Only if you like cheap suits and a lousy pension.”
“I’m just a guy, looking for a guy, hoping you can help.”
“You are not just a guy.” She flashed me a smile. Cass looked from Jane to me, then got up and headed for the ladies’ room. “I don’t think your girlfriend likes me.”
“Do you care?” I asked.
“Hum, no, I guess I don’t.” She let her fingers dance along my hand. Something about being with a pretty girl made other pretty girls want you. It’s like you have a seal of approval. They want to know what the other girl sees in you. I caught her finger in my palm and pulled her closer to me.
“Tell me about Gino, why are the feds looking for him?”
“What will you give me if I tell you?”
“My undying appreciation.”
“I was hoping for something a bit more, um, concrete. But that will do, for now,” she said with a meaningful grin. “He used to come in every Friday night, eight o’clock on the dot. He was into some kind of internet porn, but in the boom days, who wasn’t? He hired some of the girls to work for him. They said he paid good, even better for rough stuff. Four or five months ago he stopped coming in, I just figured he moved back to Chicago. But then the feds came sniffing around, so who knows what happened. Did I do good?”
“You did great.”
“Are you going to give me some candy?”
“Which girls worked for him?” I said with a slight chuckle, god, she was cute.
“Shelly and Crystal, maybe others. Shelly moved to LA, but Crystal is on the schedule for tonight. She may even surprise us all and show up.”
“Thank you,” I said, putting the fifty into her tip jar.
“You’ll be back.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I saw the way you looked at me.” She traced her body with her finger, circling her belly. “You will be back, and not just to talk to Crystal.”
“Time will tell.” I said and walked away. I caught Cass coming out of the ladies’ room and together, we walked out into the street. With the last golden light of the setting sun banks of fog rolled up over the tall hills, blanketing the Victorians in softness. We walked down to Chinatown.
“One of the dancers came into the bathroom, she just stared at me.”
“Maybe she was coming on to you.”
“I don’t think so. I think she recognized me.”
“Damn… I shouldn’t have taken you in there.”
“That bitch Jane would have been happier if you hadn’t, could she have been any less subtle? And what was that shit with the talking to the bill?” she said, setting her jaw. I would be flattered if I didn’t know I was just a prize the girls were fighting over. I didn’t have any value until they noticed someone else noticing me. Kelly had got it right, my only value was as a protector, like a big mean dog. We ate at a small Chinese restaurant. I had no idea where she put it, but Cass could pack the food in. Half my size and she matched me bite for bite. We had greasy pork fried rice, broccoli beef, lemon chicken, egg rolls, pressed duck, fried wontons and a gallon of green tea. Well fed and feeling comfortable we walked back toward the hotel. Cass slipped her arm into mine, the fog swirled around us haloing the streetlights in the mist above. To any passers by we looked like lovers on a romantic date. “Moses?” Cass asked in a soft whisper.
“Yeah?”
“If we met, on the street, or in a park… Would you like me?” I knew what she was asking, the question we all asked. If we met in the straight world, would we be of worth.
“Yes, I think I would,” I said. She smiled and snuggled her blonde head against my ribcage. The fact was I’d have liked her anywhere. But if things were different, I doubt she would have noticed me.
Back in our room she jumped onto the bed. “Want to play tent, big boy?” She flipped the blankets up, letting them drift slowly down. I shook my head fighting to hold down my grin. I washed my face and got ready to go back out. We had agreed it would be best if Cass stayed away from the Barbary Coast.
“Why don’t you stay in tonight?” she purred from the bed.
“Clock is ticking, we have to find them before they find us.”
“If you fuck that bitch, I’ll smell it on you,” she said, hard and cold.
“Stay in the room. And…”
“I know, don’t open the door for anyone.” I gave her my.45 with no doubt she would plug anyone stupid enough to break in on her.
It was ten o’clock and the club was starting to fill up with men from all walks of life. All searching for something, most shallow enough to think they could find it here. Jane let out a small laugh when she saw me at the bar. “I see you dumped the skirt,” she said setting down a gimlet.
“Yeah, she was cramping my style. Did Crystal show up?”
“Hell must be freezing over, she’s in the back room giving some drunk a lap ride. So I guess you’re stuck with me, at least for a couple of songs.”
“Lucky me.” The gin felt warm in my belly. It took the edge off the pressure building inside me and that was good, so good I ordered another.
“I’m not a tramp you know,” she said “I don’t throw myself at every hunk of man stuff that walks through that door. But there is something about you… ummm. Something different. This town is full of millionaire stock option babies, or at least it used to be, but real men are hard to find.”
“You want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“It’s not going to happen between us.”
“And yet here you are, without the skirt.”
